Ball joints....

Well Rangie sailed through another MOT couple of days ago, strangely missing the two advisories I had last year on track rod play and corroded brake pipe, guess they must have fixed themselves....

However, what is unlikely to fix itself is the perished lower ball joint covers. Advisory only this year but as there is no wear apparent in them I'm thinking of just replacing the rubbers having read the potential nightmare that joint replacement could bring.

Labour isn't an issue because I'll do it myself, so does anyone know where I can get the rubbers from or advise if ball joint replacement isn't the disaster waiting to happen that seems to be described everywhere? Rave talks about set up tools etc which will probably be unobtainable/expensive, is there a way of doing them without the set up tools?

Part of me would prefer to replace the joints as it obviously the best thing to do but if it isn't possible without tools or garage intervention then covers it is!

Thanks.

Hi, having looked at this myself,it appears to me that the only alignment issue is that of the drive shaft oil seal. if you take a disc of material to fit where the hub bearing fits, with a centre hole and a shaft that is a good fit,it should be possible to align the swivels to the centre of end of the axle tube. It can only be a vertical alignment because the end swivels in the horizontal plane. Without knowing what the original tool does,these are only assumptions, but it seems logical to me

tarphenry said:

Hi, having looked at this myself,it appears to me that the only alignment issue is that of the drive shaft oil seal. if you take a disc of material to fit where the hub bearing fits, with a centre hole and a shaft that is a good fit,it should be possible to align the swivels to the centre of end of the axle tube. It can only be a vertical alignment because the end swivels in the horizontal plane. Without knowing what the original tool does,these are only assumptions, but it seems logical to me

Click to expand...

LRT-54-006 | ALIGNMENT TOOL KNUCKLE | Land Rover | | Britcar (UK) Ltd

Hi, that appears to confirm my idea,the loose bit at the end i think checks concentricity with the axle tube.

I've replaced these not on my own car mind you, I dint use the alignment tool as the adjuster was seized solid, because I used genuine ball joints and refitted it all with a new seal, and 5 thousand miles on it is still leak free. Mine are going and will need doing this year which I'm not looking forward to

tarphenry said:

Hi, that appears to confirm my idea,the loose bit at the end i think checks concentricity with the axle tube.

Click to expand...

That is the idea yes. Shaft is locked into axle then height is adjusted until sliding gauge fits into swivel hub.

So sounds like genuine joints and loads of measuring or just boots. Given the potential grief, anyone know where I can get the boots from? Are they the same as disco ones?

try these Ball Joint Boots, Track Rod End Boots, Tie Rod End Boots and Track Control Arm Ball Joint Boots, Replacement Rubber Boots for cars and light commercial vehicles.